Innoviz Technologies, maker of solid-state lidar sensors and perception software, has closed its series C funding round with $170 million. The news follows the company's announcement in March that it had secured an initial $132 million in series C funding. The funding will support several developments, including the enhancement of its perception software and commercialisation and mass production of lidar sensors.
Operating in the 905nm, InnovizPro is designed for automotive, mapping, robotics, and other applications. It creates a dense 3D point cloud at high frame rate and offers high pixel density with uniform vertical field of view to detect targets at 150 metres.
The funding has helped Innoviz secure two computer vision industry experts, Dr Raja Giryes and Or Shimshi, who will serve as strategic collaborators to further enhance the company's software in interpreting the 3D scene. Dr Raja's experience includes senior academic and research roles and a doctorate in computer science. Or brings private sector experience managing teams and serving in advisory roles for computer vision, deep learning, machine learning and AI with Samsung Semiconductors, Intel, Qualcomm and Citi Bank.
The funding will also be used to benefit broader business activities, including accelerating its path to mass production and commercialisation of its lidar solutions and perception software to address growing demand for sensing solutions that enable autonomy. This will benefit Innoviz's existing offerings such as its InnovizPro solid state lidar, as well as future offerings, such as its InnovizOne automotive-grade lidar solution, which is entering series production in 2021 for global automakers.
'To retain our leadership position, we can focus on what's next for us and our customers – accelerating our path to mass production, commercialising our perception software offering and delivering next-generation solutions that set the bar even higher through further improvements in performance, size and cost,' said Omer Keilaf, CEO and co-founder of Innoviz. 'This solidifies our ability to support the enormous autonomy efforts underway across the globe; to enrich our product pipeline; to collaborate across automotive, mapping, robotics and drone/UAV industries and fully execute on our vision.'
